I am posting an unpopular stance - the S4 is a very nice phone but...

Weren't those updates to address specific widespread problems? Not software to introduce new features. I abandoned my DNA because I thought it was never get a real upgrade..i.e. 4.2 and sense5.

You abandoned your DNA because you thought it would never get a real upgrade? Why did you buy it in the first place?

My DNA and a lot of others are running perfectly and the OS update isn't really even needed. You don't gain a whole lot from 4.2, a few neat features (lockscreen widgets) but nothing that vastly improves performance.I would love to get sense 5 though, that looks nice.

I hate that the updates never fixed your device. Maybe I was lucky that I never had many problems to begin with on mine.

"Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open. -courtesy of Albus Dumbledore, via my droid DNA.

Thanks, I really hate it as well. As much as I like the S4 there are so many things I really liked about the DNA. If I was guaranteed that I would get a DNA without problems, would I go back?? Probably. I'm not sure if I'm more upset with Verizon or HTC about the crappy refurbished replacements.

If that was true the Nexus 4 and iPhone 5 would be slow and laggy. They aren't because they don't have all sorts of crap larded on top of the OS.

Snipped out a lot of argumentative stuff, so I have more room for argumentative stuff

Umm, wasn't that exactly the point I made? In fact I wrote a paragraph illustrating exactly that point.

There are no altruistic companies. They all want to make as much money from you as possible. You are nothing more than a cash cow for them. However when a company comes out with a really nice bit of engineering - which the S4 most certainly is, and probably despite Samsungs accounting department - it rightly gets a fan base. It's probably the only kind of recognition the engineering staff is going to get

A little later on in the thread someone spoke of HTC and the DNA. A couple comments there - Sense is to my eyes a more elegant and useable overlay than Touchwiz. I like Sense a lot. The DNA never lags - in day to day use you will not see a difference in performance between the DNA and the S4. As for iOS, Apple keeps very VERY tight control over their product. They have the carriers over a barrel on it. If you want to sell iOS, you have a choice - do it Apples way, or take a hike. You will find Windows Phone is also very quick and smooth despite the lower powered platforms it's running on - I am fast becoming a fan of W8. Microsoft is keeping a fairly tight rein on it. That and it's just plain well done. Android is not controlled well at all (which is the point to open source) and is on a LOT of platforms which leaves the carriers open to jamming as much stuff on the phone as they can since now they have the whip hand. You don't get cooperation with Samsung to let you load up the S4? Go talk to HTC for their One, or Sony for the ZL.

If that was true the Nexus 4 and iPhone 5 would be slow and laggy. They aren't because they don't have all sorts of crap larded on top of the OS.
Not sure why you say TW is better than ever when you complain features don't work and gum up the phone.
I can't tell if you have rooted or not but you seriously need to shut down carrier apps, TW apps you don't use, and use titanium backup to freeze anything else you aren't using. I think Samsung took things quite a bit too far this time with Touchwiz. It could stand some serious optimization, ui and color integration, and functionality fixes.

I don't see how anyone could dislike the lovely glowing snot color accents, like the quick settings in the notification panel

In application manager, you go to ALL and you can disable a lot of stuff. I have this all disabled;
Amazon (both)
Amazon MP3
Appstore
Audible
BlurbCheckout
Com2USPoker (because anything that spells "to you" as 2U was written by 10 year olds).
Flipboard - disabled since I don't use it and I don't want to be bothered to update it.
Google Play Books
Google Play Magazines
Google Play Movies
Google+
IMDB
Match3VS
My Verizon Mobile
NFL Mobile
S Health
Samsung Link (runs all the time)
Samsung WatchON - I already have a remote, thanks.
SNS
Story Album - runs all the time otherwise
Story Album Widget
Talk
VZ Navigator
Yahoo Finance
Yahoo News

I also turned off the stuff like Air Gestures, everything under Smart Screen.

Obviously there is stuff there that some people want to keep, and there are things I kept that perhaps some people wouldn't want running. For a first cut at it, go to the application manager and see what is running. If it's something you can do without, then disable it. Google is your friend there.

Isn't it Com2 US Poker?

This is a great list for anyone. I've had my Gnex for 8 months now and constantly update the stupid Google apps I don't use. Had no idea I could disable them. :banghead:

Also I've been following the One vs S4 threads mainly out of curiosity and the one thing that seems to stand out is that Samsung overdid it. Which is too bad because the marketing seems to be working but those that switched from iPhone are having horrible experiences with it and are likely to go back to iPhone and never give Android another look. Mainly because when you only been iOS, you don't know that all Androids are not the same.

Sent from the Superuser account on my newly rooted Sprint Galaxy Nexus

It seems to be a lot better. However, since I steadfastly refuse to learn, I got a Sony Smart Watch. After fighting with it to get it to link properly, now the battery life is shorter. I suspect the problem is the watch and phone talking to each other all the time.

I have been told and expected the answer I got from a few verizon folks that the updates especially the google apps had to be updated. I have also been told that many if not all can be removed. The only time I noticed some odd flutter was from disabling the NFL app and Blockbuster app on my old rezound. I didnt want to chance that with this phone because it may go back. Bad signal and I am surrounded by towers. I like some of the features but its just too much that wont be used. The rezound as well had a few things that were useless but was a grat phone until the april update. I am thinking of maybe a razor or even the inc 4g. I love HTC phones and I played with this one and its great for someone who needs that stuff. The size and how thin it is worries me because I have a toddler running around as well. I dont know I have a few days. Ill try disabling the apps mentioned and see how it goes. Hey what is the small facebook sns app tucked in the settings? Verizon had no idea

I really like my S4, I moved over to it from an Iphone. I think the big problem for Iphone uses are they are so used to not having any choices that they really can not handle having all of the choices they have with a Android. I know I am having lots head scratching trying to figure out how I need to do this or that. Overall I would say that this phone is hands down 10 times better than the Iphone. I do hear people talking about battery life and I am having no problems with the battery and I do use my phone a lot, more for actually talking than surfing and stuff though. So far I gues I am one of the few that think that Samsung has pretty muck lived up most of the hype, except for that SamsungSmartSwitch site that did nothing but cost me a bunch of time trying to use it to convert all my Apple files to my new phone. Overall I am very happy with my S4.

My biggest pet peeve is this damned random lag, I've tried to removing as many useless apps as possible but it still seems to happen. Does anyone know when the Google Edition release that we will be able to just boot it into our phone as an alternative?

In application manager, you go to ALL and you can disable a lot of stuff. I have this all disabled;
Amazon (both)
Amazon MP3
Appstore
Audible
BlurbCheckout
Com2USPoker (because anything that spells "to you" as 2U was written by 10 year olds).
Flipboard - disabled since I don't use it and I don't want to be bothered to update it.
Google Play Books
Google Play Magazines
Google Play Movies
Google+
IMDB
Match3VS
My Verizon Mobile
NFL Mobile
S Health
Samsung Link (runs all the time)
Samsung WatchON - I already have a remote, thanks.
SNS
Story Album - runs all the time otherwise
Story Album Widget
Talk
VZ Navigator
Yahoo Finance
Yahoo News

I also turned off the stuff like Air Gestures, everything under Smart Screen.

Obviously there is stuff there that some people want to keep, and there are things I kept that perhaps some people wouldn't want running. For a first cut at it, go to the application manager and see what is running. If it's something you can do without, then disable it. Google is your friend there.

Dude holy crap I thought I disabled a lot of crap on my one the att bloat. But my list is like 5 or 6 apps nothing close to that. That's ridiculous man they shouldn't force that much crap on anyone on any phone. Jesus. Good luck man I'm sure a update will help if Samsung releases a decent one